On May 21, 1945, Mr Dilley and 25 other soldiers were learning to use explosives in an underground bunker three metres below ground.

An explosion at 2.45pm killed 26 young men.

That was 70 years ago at Kapooka Army Base, Wagga Wagga, during World War II.

But his story has never been told.

The family rarely spoke about it until now with the release of a new book, The Forgotten Rising Sons, dedicated to Mr Dilley and all the soldiers who died that day.

It is time to pay tribute to Mr Dilley on behalf of his children, Neil and June. Lest we forget.

Siblings June Paine and Neil Dilley grew up without their father. Mrs Paine was four-years-old and Neil Dilley was an infant when Norm Dilley of Lorn was killed.

As children, they were never told much about how their father died.

Their mother Marjorie received a telegram informing her of her ­husband’s death and she never spoke about it again.

She put away the telegram and other papers inside a sheet box and there they stayed.

“We did not have any information about what happed to Dad and we ­didn’t ask,” Mrs Paine said.

“Until now, nobody knew his story.

“I remember Dad. He would make me a milkshake every morning. He wrote lovely letters to me when he went away for war service and I kept them all.

“He asked me to look after Neil and to take good care of the pet bunny rabbit he got for me before he went away.”

While Mrs Paine was too young to remember all the details, she heard aunts and uncles talk about her father at times. But for the most part no one mentioned it.

“It was a different time,” Mr Dilley said. “There was a war going on, people were being killed everywhere, no one spoke about it much and everyone got on with it.”

Norm Dilley was buried at Wagga Wagga within three days of his death. His wife and other family members attended the service.

A simple inscription on his headstone reflected their pain – God Rest His Soul.

Neil Dilley visited his father’s grave for the first time in 1969 when he was 17 years old. 

Mrs Paine visited on her honeymoon and with tears in her eyes, said it was an emotional time.

“Dad was a quiet bloke. A loving husband and father,” she said.

“He didn’t want to go to war because he would get home sick and miss us a lot. We missed him too.”

Mr Dilley regrets not asking more questions while his mother, aunts and uncles were alive.

“There is a tree near the bunker where Dad was killed. That same tree is still there today,” he said.

“We have often thought about Dad sitting under that tree. It provided the only shade for the soldiers to sit and eat their lunch.

“A hot lunch was delivered to them every day in that hot, dusty, dirty, mongrel of a place [because of the demolitions training].”

Relief has come in the form of Andrew Johnston’s book, released last year, called The Forgotten Rising Sons.

In it, Johnston reminds readers of “the futile, senseless, heartbreaking unknown and often forgotten cost of war”.

A chapter of the book is devoted to Norm Dilley, who before World War II worked as a carpenter to support his wife and children.

He started work at Rutherford Munitions Factory, aged 32, as a tool setter.

He was called for military service on January 27, 1942 and waited two years to be trained at Rutherford and Singleton military camps.

Mr Dilley was enlisted in February 1945 and sent to Cowra for eight weeks.

 He was sent on a train to Wagga Wagga on April 30 for training in demolitions and other engineering roles.

His family never saw him again.

“We are so pleased Dad is recognised in this way [in the book],” Mrs Paine said. “The book has answered a lot of our questions about what and how it happened.”

Mr Dilley said something went wrong to set off an explosion inside the bunker which was supposed to protect the soldiers.

“This is a tragedy that should never have happened,” he said.

“Dad is a hero in our eyes after what he went through. It is a lovely feeling to remember our dad in this way,” Mrs Paine said.

The siblings will travel to Wagga Wagga for the Kapooka Tragedy 70th anniversary and will stand at their father’s grave site in his honour on May 21.

A plaque at Kapooka Tragedy Memorial reads:

“It was the Australian Army’s worst accident.

“A tragedy so grim and gruesome it tore open the heart of a country town.

“The nation’s largest military funeral buried the victims three days later.

“Half the population of Wagga – 7000 men, women and children – lined the streets to bow their heads at the passing parade of coffins.

“But then something strange happened – Australia forgot.”